Negosentro.com | 6 Types of Smartphone Apps That Can Improve Business Efficiency | As the owner of a business, you are probably always on the lookout for help improving your efficiency and increasing your sales. You may already use your smartphone for business communication, but have you leveraged its ability to help you in other ways, such as organizing your sales team, scheduling your day, or connecting with customers? Smartphone apps can do all of those things and more.
1. Team Management Apps
Whether you manage a team of in-store associates or sales representatives who go out into the field, a team management app can be of big help. An outside sales app helps to streamline your process by helping your reps save time. There are also scheduling apps that allow you to send schedule notifications to your employees’ smartphones in real time. This eliminates excuses that workers might try to use for not coming in to work like they’re supposed to.
2. Time Management Apps
Time is one of the most precious assets that you possess. As with your other valuable assets, you should take care never to waste it because, unlike some other assets, there is no way of getting it back once it is gone. Time management apps not only allow you to organize tasks and set deadlines for yourself, they also allow you to give assignments to your team members and track their progress and productivity. This allows you to see which team members are meeting their benchmarks and which might need some extra coaching.
3. Social Networking Apps
You probably already use social media to advertise your business and connect with customers. While this can be beneficial, it can also be potentially damaging if you do not organize your business-related social media activity. There are apps that can help with that by scheduling messages to send automatically or delaying posts until an opportune moment.
However, networking is not only about connecting with customers but with colleagues and potential partners as well. While it is possible to connect with other professionals via any social network, there is only one built specifically for that purpose, and that is LinkedIn. LinkedIn Pulse is an app that allows you to connect with colleagues and find articles and posts that are relevant to your business.
4. Video Conferencing Apps
Conference calling has been around in business for some time. Video conferencing is more recent and allows you to keep in touch with distant team members and colleagues far more efficiently than mere audio conferencing. Not only can you see one another, but you can also share things like charts, graphics, and PowerPoint presentations. There are several video conferencing applications available, including Skype, Zoom, Google Meet, etc.
5. Point of Sale Apps
With the combination of an app and a physical card reader, you can accept debit card and credit card payments right from your smartphone or tablet. This can be enormously helpful for restaurants, car washes, and any business where bringing the customer to the cash register to pay may not be convenient.
Many consumers have been cautioned by banks and other organizations not to let cards, especially debit cards, out of their sight when making payments to protect their information from getting stolen. Therefore, the ability to take payments right where the customer is helps to inspire trust and confidence in your company.
6. Accounting Apps
When you run a business, keeping detailed financial records is very important. Accounting apps can do a lot of the difficult work for you, not only as it relates to reporting profits and losses and managing expenses but to issuing invoices as well.
The three most important things that every business owner tries to accomplish every day are building a loyal customer base, increasing sales, and improving efficiency. Smartphone apps can not only help you to accomplish all three, they also allow you to conduct at least some operations from wherever you happen to be. In other words, you don’t necessarily have to be in the office to keep your business running.
